WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Pew Center on Global Climate Change today issued two papers that offer a primer on major federal transportation efforts and policies to advance a cleaner, more secure transportation system. The papers complement a comprehensive Pew Center report released in January that examines cost-effective solutions to reduce U.S. transportation emissions and oil use.

Travel on U.S. roads and rail uses 10 million barrels of oil per day and is the source of more than 23 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Faced with a real threat to national security from climate change and oil dependence, Congress has an opportunity to achieve significant oil savings and GHG reductions from the U.S. transportation sector.

The papers offer a guide to federal transportation reauthorization legislation and identify opportunities in that legislation and through existing legislative authority to save oil and reduce GHG emissions. The strategy focuses on five key elements: vehicles; fuels; vehicle miles traveled (VMT); system efficiency; and construction, maintenance, and other activities of transportation agency operations.

The papers follow up on the Pew Center’s report, Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Transportation. That study identifies reasonable actions across three fronts – technology, policy, and consumer behavior – that could deliver up to a 65 percent reduction in transportation emissions from current levels by 2050.

For more information about global climate change and the activities of the Pew Center, visit www.c2es.org.

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The Pew Center on Global Climate Change was established in May 1998 as a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization dedicated to providing credible information, straight answers, and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change. The Pew Center is led by Eileen Claussen, the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.